Other Media Types

How to Write Successfully in a Variety of Nonfiction Formats - video

What type of writer are you? What are your strengths and weaknesses as a writer, and what topics are you passionate about? These are all questions that writers need to ask themselves to determine where they should focus their writing efforts. Author, educator, and academician Dr. Mark Eckel knows himself well as a writer and has learned to apply his knowledge and strengths to many different nonfiction formats. The key to being successful across a variety of formats, he says, is to understand that each project can have standards and guidelines that are vastly different from one another. It's important to abide by these and shift your approach when necessary. If your best writing appears only in shorter pieces that's okay, just know that and seek out those specific types of opportunities.

Response to Paul Tarsleh....I found your question to be one that most any author or author would-be, may find relevant and a valid concern when having a manuscript, completed book or any other written piece reviewed. As a one who believes that creation, science, AND evolution play a part in history of living things, I would wonder myself if the reviewer was biased by their own stance. For example, a reviewer giving little or no credence to creation may not give a book an open-minded or fair review. By saying the book was "not good," they may hope they can influence others that the book is not worthy to purchase. Obviously, I don't know whether this was true of your review received, this was just my very clear response.

Thank you Mark for your encouragement to all of us writers and would-be writers. I heard you saying that you do book reviews, great. But I want to know what you book reviewers actually look for in a book in order to rate it as good. Your own ideas and believes or the writer's ideas? I ask because I wrote a book entitled "The Evolution of man-the place where science and religion meet" in 2012 but the company's book reviewers rated my book as not good and I wondered why. Can you please tell me a little bit?